Thank you for the more respectful reply. I am going to comment on some of it that I believe is inaccurate.
I am also going to attempt to respectfully show the extreme bias you and @roark are displaying here. And why, what you are showing is terrible for the audio world.
This is your opinion. Not a statement of fact. You would not say that if you agreed with my assessment. You only say it because you disagree. Can you honestly say you would feel the same if you agreed?
Not to you. They are quite obvious to me. Again, if you would like more context ask. Or read previous posts all over the forum. Most of it is on here. Or don’t. That’s all you.
I am going to assume one of these that you reference is the jot + 4490. And, yes, I did that. In no way did I expect it to reduce the jot to a $109 dongle. And, this is still assuming that is the problem. And not a myriad of other things that it could be in a complex system. I don’t know how many times I can show through words and actions that that could be the case.
Based, on the evidence, which again, using the jot with 4490 card, no one seems to be disagreeing with it. And, instead of living with that, I went and ordered both the bifrost and the ananda to swap out two possible variables. Is this also the wrong approach according to you? What are you expecting in your ideal world?
This very well could be true. And, in this conversation, may be the most useful thing you have said. Here’s the problem from a new person’s perspective: You and I are sitting on an incredible mountain of privilege. The fact that you can sit here and effectively say “$500 on the amp isn’t enough to beat a dongle” screams an insane amount of privilege. We are discussing items that are well out of the financial reach of many people. And then you are basically turning around and shaming someone for daring to spend that little while reporting experiences you clearly think are worthless.
Think about that. Think about that hard next time you provide that kind of feedback.
Those items aren’t for me. Consider that a hard requirement of my audiophile journey. I understand where you are coming from, I have no interest in going there. Will I one day? Maybe. Not today.
In the same way, the world is not here to serve your sense of being a proper audiophile. I am not telling you how to do it. Please don’t presume you have some kind of right to tell me.
I don’t disagree. Problem: I live in a state that does not have an audiophile level store anywhere as far as I can tell. And I live there in a time where travel isn’t exactly easy. I don’t have a solution to that. If that weren’t the case I likely would have been to at least one canjam by now. So, again, your privilege is showing. I am glad you have such wonderful options, and the disposable income to not care about the losses. Some of us, don’t. Or we choose not to put our resources there. Take your pick.
If this were an actual preference debate, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Right, now, from the outside, it looks like a couple of people with greater experience shoving their privilege in someone else’s face. Again, not the way to approach it.
Could be true. But again, the way those people respond don’t seem to be taking the time to understand my context. And just go off about their audiophile ideals and how I am doing it wrong. That’s how some of you come off. I am sitting here saying “I don’t know what’s going on, and I am not willing to spend the level of money you want me to spend”. Again, you want to show me similarly priced stuff that is better because of synergies, I am all ears. I will have a bifrost to combine with the jot. Between that and the Ananda and hp-2 would you expect better results than I am hearing now?
Do you not realize that I had the arya, he6se, sundara, lcd-x, quad era-1 and many of the afore mentioned amps/stacks all at the same time for several weeks to months of overlap for almost all of them? Many of them during amazon’s 3 month christmas return window? The sundara in particular I had for that entire time. You can hate the return process all you want. I didn’t have any other option that was feasible.
This isn’t auditory memory for almost anything that I have said. This is what I experienced at the time doing the same sorts of a/b comparisons I am doing now. I returned the arya and lcd-x because the he6se sounded better to me (along with anything else I have mentioned from that time period). And then I turned around and spent $2500 in amping to find out if it got better. Then it died. So, exactly, what did I do wrong here? How much more were you expecting out of a first time audiophile? Hmmm? How much privilege and money do you need to “do it right” by your standards? Do you see what I am getting at?
If you want to help do it right within my means and criteria, I am all ears. If you don’t want to bother understanding my criteria fully enough to do that, I don’t expect you to. Absolutely do not waste your time on me. I have never claimed to be an easy person to please. Quite the opposite. Regularly.
Honestly, privileged is the better term. It just comes off as snotty.
Again, I have tried to be respectful to everyone while stating what I hear. I am open to changes and that I approached it “wrong” as evidenced by every adaptation I have made. When I find a weak point I am able to address, I do. I am sorry it is not the way you would do it. But it is what it is.
And, again, you are free to have your opinions, and I am free to have mine. I don’t expect you to read, like, agree or do anything else regarding my content. You are, as is anyone else, free to ignore it. If that’s what you need to do, by all means do so. And, I will go a step further and say I will actively respect that. And specifically avoid asking you any questions on this forum.
Now, put yourself in the new audiophile shoe’s reading all of this. What does it look like? And then ask yourself if that is good for encouraging new audiophiles?
I share these things because I know people less vocal than me are going through them. People who are less persistent and annoying than I am. People who would feel absolutely gloriously lucky if they could hear what I have heard for themselves. People who would give up after experiencing what I have experienced. That person is clearly not you.
Now, if you think I am misleading those people, I will be the first to tell them “try it for yourself” is the best policy. And I am also open to changing parameters with in the context that works for me. And yes, it’s possible you don’t have answers that will fit those parameters. That is ok. I come from a software engineering background focusing in agile development. I am approaching this the same way. That may not be the right way for anyone else to do it, but it is the right way for me to do it.
Respectfully, please read this with as much objectiveness as you can. This isn’t about being combative. It’s about both of us learning something from the experience.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy!
I was being polite.
Thanks.